Who Lived Here? A University Avenue Cottage in 1926

In 1926, several thousand city residents submitted a photo to a publication titled Fellow Citizens of Indianapolis. (Jno. V. Coffield Publishing Company, Indianapolis) Most were men and all were white. Many of the citizens featured were rising stars in their profession. Irvington was well represented in the publication with dozens of names. Many of those individuals will be shared on this site.

Floyd Raymond Fisher (1892-1977) was just in the beginning of his career when he submitted his photo to the publication.  A manager for the American Central Life Insurance Company, Mr. Fisher had only recently married Elizabeth Louse Parker (1894-1989) in 1923. He likely purchased 5720 University Avenue in 1922 as a building permit record shows that he placed a furnace in the home in September of 1922. He might have also added on the Craftsman-era porch onto the small Queen Anne cottage.  By 1924, Mr. Fisher moved his wife into the house and shortly thereafter they welcomed their first son, Parker, who was born in the same year.  They would later have a second son, Floyd, Jr.

Their Irvington home was clearly just a starter house as Mr. Fisher continued to rise through the ranks of American Central Life. They left 5720 in 1930 for another 5720. Their next home was far grander and located at 5720 North Delaware Street.

If any member of the Fisher family has any photos of their time in Irvington, please contact me!

5720 University Avenue in 2015

Traffic Patrol Boys at School #77--1942

Arlington Avenue could be a dangerous street even in 1942 so that is why School #77 commissioned patrol boys.  They helped to assist children across the street at major intersections near the school.  This former traffic patrol boy from Rushville, Indiana took his post very seriously as I worked the intersection of East 7th and Willow Street near my school in the late 1970s.  Patrol boys had to be in good standing with the school and deemed responsible by the administration before taking their posts.  In this photo, from Joyce Mitzner Smith via Ann Stewart, several patrol boys posed for a school photo in 1942.  Thankfully, we know the names of every child in this picture.  It is hard to believe that most of them are nearly 80 or older now.

Top Row:  Charles Lohman, John Farson, George Fisher, Dan Meininger, Carl Geider, Philip Smith

Bottom Row:  Bill Cowell, Paul Coutz, Jimmie McFerran, Charles Patterson

Ann Stewart remembers several of the boys in the photos.  She sadly pointed out that Philip Smith had the unfortunate diagnosis of polio while attending the school.

A special thanks to Joyce Mitzner Smith and Ann Stewart for this image and the names of the students.

A Cottage Reappears 44 Years Later

The last time anyone saw the Fisher-Mullin home was in 1968.  It was torn down in that year to make room for a commercial development along South Ritter and Bonna Avenues. This late nineteenth-century house at 203 South Ritter Avenue was first the home of the Fisher family. Charles Fisher was the Warren Township Trustee in 1910. Later, Elmer R. Mullin, a tinner and furnace man, moved his family into the home and remained there from the early 1920s through the 1940s.

203 South Ritter c.1920...note the old street sign

200 block of South Ritter in 2012

Robert Montgomery, the grandson to Mr. and Mrs. Mullin, recalls the trains which passed by his childhood bedroom window near the Pennsylvania Rail Line.  Seventy years later, he noted that the sound of a distant train reminds him of his childhood years in Irvington. In the historic photo, taken around 1920, you will note that the house still had its fish scales in the upper gables as well as a wonderful Queen Anne porch.  If you look closely, you can see Mr. Mullin's tin shop behind the home at 5517 Bonna Avenue.

This historic photo is courtesy of Robert Montgomery.